Another Halloween, another 'Paranormal Activity.' Another 'Paranormal Activity,' another large opening weekend. But all is not well in the state of Denmark (and by Denmark, we mean "the 'Paranormal Activity' franchise"): the fourth film in the series opened to significantly less than the previous entries.

Film

Weekend

Per Screen

Total

1

Paranormal Activity 4

$30,200,000

$8,851

$30,200,000

2

Argo

$16,625,000 (-14.6)

$5,120

$43,191,000

3

Hotel Transylvania

$13,500,000 (-21.7)

$4,479

$119,000,000

4

Taken 2

$13,400,000 (-38.7)

$3,841

$105,971,000

5

Alex Cross

$11,750,000

$4,628

$11,750,000

6

Sinister

$9,030,000 (-49.9)

$3,552

$31,950,000

7

Here Comes the Boom

$8,500,000 (-28.1)

$2,820

$23,200,000

8

Pitch Perfect

$7,009,000 (-24.4)

$2,635

$45,769,000

9

Frankenweenie

$4,434,000 (-37.1(

$1,877

$28,343,000

10

Looper

$4,200,000 (-32.3)

$1,889

$57,800,000

To be perfectly fair to 'Paranormal Activity 4,' a $30 million opening is huge. This thing was made for pennies (AKA, about $5 million), so the whole thing is already firmly in the black. 'Paranormal Activity 5' will arrive next year no matter what. However, the absurd profit on display here pales in comparison to the even more absurd profits of parts two three, which opened to $40 million and $52 million respectively. 'Paranormal Activity' 4 probably won't top $100 million like entires one and three, but $70-$80 million is not out of the question. In any case, it's still a victory.

The really interesting victory of the weekend belongs to 'Argo,' which held onto the number two spot with $16 million. Ben Affleck's Oscar favorite only took a minuscule 14% drop, evidence that the word of mouth is strong with this one. With $43 million earned in two weeks, a number like $80 million isn't out of the question...and if people keep coming back, $100 million may not be a pipe dream.

In third place, 'Hotel Transylvania' continued to play big to horror-hungry children, earning $13 million for a $119 million total. It has one more week before the Halloween bubble pops, but $150 million is a sure thing at this point. On the other end of the horror spectrum, 'Sinister' took the standard big drop for horror movie second weekends and landed in sixth place with $9 million, but a $31 million two week gross for a movie that cost $3 million is a big win.

After reigning at the top of the box office for two weeks, 'Taken 2' slipped to fourth place with $13 million, pushing it over the $100 million mark. Can it hit $150 million? Nah, probably not, but this is fine. It easily trounced its only direct genre competition this week: the fifth place $11 million opening of 'Alex Cross' is definitive proof that Tyler Perry is not an action star.

In the seventh spot, 'Here Comes the Boom' continued to impress no one with $8 million and in the eight spot, 'Pitch Perfect' continued its journey to sleeper hit with $7 million. Rounding out the top ten are 'Frankenweenie' and 'Looper,' both of which are about ready to end their runs (the former a disappointment and the latter a minor hit).

Next week will see the release of 'Silent Hill: Revelations' and 'Cloud Atlas.' One is an ambitious and incredible film that deserves your money and the other is called 'Silent Hill: Revelations.'